Instant Analysis: Nats 10, Red Sox 2

With homers from Andrés Chaparro, Nasim Nuñez and James Wood, the Nationals routed Boston to convincingly win another road series

Photo by Tessa Sumagui / ALL-PRO REELS

BOSTON – And after all that … the Nationals won another road series in convincing fashion.

On the heels of Tuesday night’s benches-clearing brawl, the Nats ran roughshod this afternoon at Fenway Park, getting homers from Andrés Chaparro, Nasim Nuñez and James Wood to take two of three from the Red Sox and earn their seventh win in their last eight road series. They wound up outscoring Boston, 18-2, after Tuesday’s fourth-inning incident.

Chaparro got things started with a first-inning homer off left-hander Payton Tolle, his first homer of the season. Nuñez also hit his first homer of the season, taking Tolle deep to left to open the top of the fourth. The Nats would add four more runs during that rally, getting a two-run single from Luis García Jr. (who pinch-hit for Chaparro after the Red Sox pulled Tolle for right-hander Ryan Watson) and an RBI double from Jacob Young.

Wood then added a three-run, opposite-field homer in the seventh to continue his recent resurgence following a week-long slump. He’s now 7-for-16 with two homers, 6 RBI and four walks over his last four games.

Not that they needed perfect pitching with all that run support, but the Nationals got it from the duo that took the mound for most of the afternoon. Brad Lord, serving as the opener, tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings on 53 pitches. Andrew Alvarez, serving as the bulk arm, tossed 4 2/3 scoreless innings on 74 pitches. Riley Cornelio and Carson Palmquist then recorded the final six outs to make this road series win official.

HITTING HIGHLIGHT: It’s been a long time coming for Chaparro, who despite regular playing time when the Nationals are facing a left-handed starter entered this game with a .156 batting average, zero homers, five RBI and a .544 OPS. Through it all, Blake Butera has stuck with Chaparro as his right-handed first baseman, keeping him in a prominent spot near the top of the lineup. And Chaparro rewarded his manager for that display of faith today when he blasted Tolle’s first-inning fastball over the Green Monster for a two-run homer. This came after Chaparro was struck in the head by Willson Contreras’ helmet during Tuesday night’s brawl, not to mention during a week in which his native Venezuela has been devastated by an earthquake. One home run doesn’t make everything better, but it had to feel particularly good for Chaparro in the moment.

PITCHING HIGHLIGHT: Because the entire bullpen was rested, and because his team has Thursday off, Butera was free to deploy his pitching staff however he liked today. So he opted to use Lord as his opener and watched the right-hander set the tone early. Alvarez (the originally scheduled starter) might have been allowed to only face the Red Sox lineup once in a close game. But with a comfortable lead in hand, the lefty was allowed to churn out 4 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. Alvarez’s big moment of the day: Facing Wilyer Abreu with the bases loaded and two out in the fifth, he won a nine-pitch battle with a 94-mph fastball. Alvarez pumped his fist as he hopped off the mound.

NOTABLE: Eli Willits and Miguel Sime Jr. have been selected to represent the Nationals in this year’s All-Star Futures Game, two members of the club’s 2025 draft class already having earned recognition around the sport.

Willits, the No. 1 overall pick in the country last summer, was recently rated the No. 3 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline. The 18-year-old shortstop is batting .287 with a .418 on-base percentage, .522 slugging percentage, 12 homers, 50 RBI, 54 walks and 37 steals in 63 games split between both levels of Single-A (Fredericksburg and Wilmington).

Sime, the Nats’ fourth-round pick last summer, leads all of minor league baseball with 16.7 strikeouts per nine innings to go along with a 3.71 ERA in 14 starts also split between Fredericksburg and Wilmington. The 19-year-old right-hander is rated the organization’s ninth-best prospect by Baseball America and 17th-best prospect by MLB Pipeline.

UP NEXT: The Nats get their first day off in two weeks before opening a rare, nine-game homestand leading into the All-Star break. First up is a holiday weekend series with the Pirates, with Friday’s 6:45 p.m. opener featuring Foster Griffin against a to-be-named starter for Pittsburgh. (Paul Skenes is not scheduled to pitch in the series.) TV: Nationals TV RADIO: 106.7 FM